Roch forgets about Maverick Handley

[Just Regular]

The reports on Handley's defense are so good he seems like he'll get plenty of Age 25-30 in the high minors trying to learn how to hit enough to make the Show.

How formidable a 2024 obstacle to a job will James McCann be?     Another bad year and it could be a real competition.

[wildcard]

I think Handley will be at AAA this season.   Norfolk can carry three catchers if they want.   I don't see what makes the 27 year old Kolozsvary better than Handley.   Kolozsvary has a 594 OPS at AAA.   He is not someone that should hold the soon to be 25 year Handley back.

[Going Underground]

20 minutes ago, Just Regular said:

The reports on Handley's defense are so good he seems like he'll get plenty of Age 25-30 in the high minors trying to learn how to hit enough to make the Show.

How formidable a 2024 obstacle to a job will James McCann be?     Another bad year and it could be a real competition.

McCann will make $4,150,000 next year . I don't think the Orioles are going to just eat his salary.

[Just Regular]

1 minute ago, Going Underground said:

McCann will make $4,150,000 next year . I don't think the Orioles are going to just eat his salary.

I think McCann will present himself as the better 2024 option anyway, but if he didn't I wouldn't expect Elias to hinder Adley year 3 of 6 over that small a sum.

Hopefully Handley establishes himself as a good 2025 candidate.

[interloper]

17 minutes ago, Going Underground said:

McCann will make $4,150,000 next year . I don't think the Orioles are going to just eat his salary.

Actually I think the O's are only on the hook for $5 million over the next two seasons, so $2.5/yr. 

[Just Regular]

1 minute ago, interloper said:

Actually I think the O's are only on the hook for $5 million over the next two seasons, so $2.5/yr. 

That is the average, but Cot's shows Angelos got Cohen to send more of the $$$ sooner rather than later - $11mm this year, just $8mm next year.

 

[interloper]

Just now, Just Regular said:

That is the average, but Cot's shows Angelos got Cohen to send more of the $$$ sooner rather than later - $11mm this year, just $8mm next year.

 

Ah interesting, gotcha. 

[wildcard]

If Maverick does well by the 2023 deadline he might be ready for a promotion to the majors.    Catchers do get hurt during the season.  If someone is ready to pick up McCann's  salary  (4.15m in 2024) to replace an injured catcher the O's may be willing to trade him.

[OriolesMagic83]

Don't feel back Maverick.  They forget about Dre.

[Aristotelian]

On 3/3/2023 at 3:20 PM, wildcard said:

If Maverick does well by the 2023 deadline he might be ready for a promotion to the majors.    Catchers do get hurt during the season.  If someone is ready to pick up McCann's  salary  (4.15m in 2024) to replace an injured catcher the O's may be willing to trade him.

Or one of our guys could be the one getting injured. Elias seems to be very keen on stockpiling depth. I would be surprised if there isn't an injury sometime during the season and then we could see Mav get his chance.

[Sanity Check]

As much as even I love to get excited about our young talent, I've also seen just how harsh the OH can be on any back up catcher that can't hit.  He's got a really cool name, but has not shown any real offensive prowess in any level of the minors. 

How quickly will everyone want to send this guy packing when he becomes that automatic out at the bottom of every Sunday's lineup.  Most OH'ers have zero tolerance for this, so I'm not sure what the hype is right now. 

I also imagine it would be better for him to be "The Guy" getting most of the reps at Bowie rather than having to split time in Norfolk with two other guys.   Now, if he's a regular at Norfolk, fine, but I wouldn't put a developing player into a 3 times a week role.

PS - I appreciate great defense, pitch calling and framing from a catcher, but I've seen way too many instances on this board where, if the offense doesn't measure up, the defense doesn't matter.  Jorge Mateo says hello.

[Moose Milligan]

14 minutes ago, Sanity Check said:

As much as even I love to get excited about our young talent, I've also seen just how harsh the OH can be on any back up catcher that can't hit.  He's got a really cool name, but has not shown any real offensive prowess in any level of the minors. 

How quickly will everyone want to send this guy packing when he becomes that automatic out at the bottom of every Sunday's lineup.  Most OH'ers have zero tolerance for this, so I'm not sure what the hype is right now. 

I also imagine it would be better for him to be "The Guy" getting most of the reps at Bowie rather than having to split time in Norfolk with two other guys.   Now, if he's a regular at Norfolk, fine, but I wouldn't put a developing player into a 3 times a week role.

PS - I appreciate great defense, pitch calling and framing from a catcher, but I've seen way too many instances on this board where, if the offense doesn't measure up, the defense doesn't matter.  Jorge Mateo says hello.

The OH Backup Catcher Horde might settle down a tad when Mav is hitting .180 with great defense because he’s one of ours. He’s not some interloper we signed in free agency that we got to whine about all offseason. 
 

Then again, a lot of people whined about Caleb Joseph so who knows. 
 

I agree for the most part though. What do people want from a backup catcher? If they could hit they’d probably be starting somewhere. 

[wildcard]

2 hours ago, Sanity Check said:

As much as even I love to get excited about our young talent, I've also seen just how harsh the OH can be on any back up catcher that can't hit.  He's got a really cool name, but has not shown any real offensive prowess in any level of the minors. 

How quickly will everyone want to send this guy packing when he becomes that automatic out at the bottom of every Sunday's lineup.  Most OH'ers have zero tolerance for this, so I'm not sure what the hype is right now. 

I also imagine it would be better for him to be "The Guy" getting most of the reps at Bowie rather than having to split time in Norfolk with two other guys.   Now, if he's a regular at Norfolk, fine, but I wouldn't put a developing player into a 3 times a week role.

PS - I appreciate great defense, pitch calling and framing from a catcher, but I've seen way too many instances on this board where, if the offense doesn't measure up, the defense doesn't matter.  Jorge Mateo says hello.

Not sure what you are looking at but what I see is at AA last season in 259 AB he had 11 HR (that is good power),  45 RBI (probably means he hit with runners in scoring position), had 43 runs scored because he hit for a 352 OBP.  And a 769 OPS.   

That should get him a promotion to AAA and we will see how he does there but if he hits like he did at AA he will be in position to be a backup catcher in the majors that hits some.

Edited March 5, 2023 by wildcard

[sevastras]

4 hours ago, Sanity Check said:

As much as even I love to get excited about our young talent, I've also seen just how harsh the OH can be on any back up catcher that can't hit.  He's got a really cool name, but has not shown any real offensive prowess in any level of the minors. 

How quickly will everyone want to send this guy packing when he becomes that automatic out at the bottom of every Sunday's lineup.  Most OH'ers have zero tolerance for this, so I'm not sure what the hype is right now. 

I also imagine it would be better for him to be "The Guy" getting most of the reps at Bowie rather than having to split time in Norfolk with two other guys.   Now, if he's a regular at Norfolk, fine, but I wouldn't put a developing player into a 3 times a week role.

PS - I appreciate great defense, pitch calling and framing from a catcher, but I've seen way too many instances on this board where, if the offense doesn't measure up, the defense doesn't matter.  Jorge Mateo says hello.

While it would be nice if he hit more, he fields beyond what Caleb Joseph could ever dream of. If you have Rutschman as your main catcher and Handley as your backup, the pitchers could throw anything they want up there with all of the confidence in the world. That tandem if far better than Wieters/Joseph overall. Now if you are running Mateó and Handley out on a Sunday afternoon, then you have two .200 level hitters at the bottom of the order and it will kill any inning they come up for. 

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, sevastras said:

While it would be nice if he hit more, he fields beyond what Caleb Joseph could ever dream of. If you have Rutschman as your main catcher and Handley as your backup, the pitchers could throw anything they want up there with all of the confidence in the world. That tandem if far better than Wieters/Joseph overall. Now if you are running Mateó and Handley out on a Sunday afternoon, then you have two .200 level hitters at the bottom of the order and it will kill any inning they come up for. 

Being able to pinch run for Adley with an actual Catcher is appealing to me even if I know it's not actually likely to make a difference in games.